The Handcuffs
by LadyEmiMarie
Summary: In which Alec hunts for his clothes and finds something baffling under his boyfriend's bed. - Chapters Two and Three now added -
1. Beginning

I would have been angry at Alec for disturbing my slumber if it wasn't so damn nice to feel that he was in my arms. When he started to shift on the bed I planted a kiss at the nape of his neck and whispered a hoarse "Good Morning, love."

"I didn't mean to wake you..." He said apologetically. Softly, as if he didn't want to disturb me anymore. I felt him move as if to pull away and was having none of it. I squeezed his waist with the arm wrapped around it and traced runes up his forearm with my free hand. I didn't have to look; I was starting to learn these marks by heart. I wanted know Alexander Lightwood by heart.

"I was already up." I told him as I guided by finger over a _fearless_ mark.

"Good one." Said Alec as his strong hands came to peel my arms away. He rolled to face me.

Alexander had the most beautiful eyes, though they were half hidden by his dark lashes at the time. He seemed at peace, rested. But still half asleep. I kissed him and felt his lips curl into a smile beneath mine. I smiled too as I pulled back, memories of the night before floated to the front of my mind.

"My throat is killing me."

He laughed a little. He had a great laugh; it was breathy, more smile than sound. He buried his head in my shoulder. Besides the fact it was comfortable I knew that Alec was trying to hide his face from me. I was getting used to random bouts of shyness as well as the random bursts of confidence. Someday I was going to figure out the pattern and they wouldn't be so random anymore. Until then I was taking things as they came.

"I'm not surprised. You can be pretty... Vocal." I could practically hear the eye-roll in his tone and bit his ear as punishment. I hadn't been _that_ loud. He made a pleased noise of his own. Then he was pushing against my chest and pulling away again. "Nope. No. I don't have time to lie here all day. I'm late."

I let my eyes flicker to the clock and let my hand find an _iratze_ on Alexander's hip bone. Glowing red letters told me that it was only 8:30. Shadowhunters were insane.

"Too early." I said. "Just a few more hours..."

He shook his head, making some of his un-styled hair fall into his face. I pushed it back but it only fell through my fingers. I repeated the gesture anyway. He'd taken to using my shampoo, I could tell from the texture. Lilith knew whatever products they used at the Institute did not make it feel that way.

He kissed me again. "Sorry."

Before I figured out what he was apologising for he was out of bed. Damn. I propped up on one arm to watch him. Can you blame me? It was easy for people to overlook with the way he dressed, but Alexander's body was a sight to behold. You just knew he'd grow up well; the way men ought to. All strength and calluses and battle scars. Not stuck as a teenage boy forever.

I'm not bitter. Promise.

"Hey, did you snap away my...?" Alec began. I blinked at him stood there completely bare. He was looking at the floor since he'd noticed me staring. Bewildered, I turned my hand as an indication for him to finish his sentence. "I only see my shirt and jeans."

Looking around my dark room I saw that clothes had been haphazardly shed and thrown all about, and while I kept in mind that maybe one time I _should _magically snap his undergarments into oblivion, it wasn't the case then.

"They probably got kicked under the bed." I told him and stretched out. It was still too early, but I was already awake. I closed my eyes when I felt my body click, relief I didn't know I needed flooding though me. I was still aching but in all the right places. In that state I probably could have dozed off again. I may well have done if Alec hadn't spoken again. When I opened my eyes again, my mouth dropped open too. He'd found and put on his boxers, but what he was holding was the shocker.

"Uh, Magnus, why would you need to _cushion_ handcuffs?"

I closed my mouth, opened it to speak, closed it again. I didn't even remember getting those. Had he found them under the bed? I dreaded to think what kind of horrors I might have stored under there which had been put out of mind.

"Aren't they meant to hurt?" He asked.

'Sometimes', I thought immediately. Some people were sadists. Or masochists. I internally willed those kind of thoughts away. Clearly Alec wasn't talking about anything like that. I got the feeling, judging by the completely unabashed look on his face, that he hadn't even made a sexual link. He was a Shadowhunter after all; Nephilim had runes to create restraints of fire for punishing criminals. Lessening the discomfort must have been a completely alien concept to him. I almost wanted to laugh. It was difficult to keep a straight face.

"They aren't for criminals. Some people like to be restrained." I told him as collectedly as I possibly could. Stifling the grin was a task and a half. Then his eyes widened and realisation dawned and I didn't much feel like grinning anymore. Realisation had dawned on me, too. I was suddenly very panicked about what I'd divulged. I loved Alec. He was wonderful and I'd never want to say something offencive about him... But who _knew _what his neurotic mind was doing with that information?

'Here it comes.' I thought as his brows furrowed at the metal cuffs in his hands. 'The flurry of questions: _Who_ likes that? Do _you_ like that? Did _Will_ like that?' My stomach tightened. We were going to end up fighting again. It would be horrible and he'd go to the Institute mad and I wouldn't hear from him for days - but would get plenty of angry texts from his sister.

Snap.

The chain was broken with what looked like no effort at all. Alec's eyes met mine.

"How did you restrain _anybody_ with those?" He breathed laughter again. "I've broken doors down with less effort."

I burst out laughing too.


	2. Stronger

**I wasn't planning to add another chapter, but this came to mind after a guest review so I thought I might as well post it.**

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**Stronger**

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There are things in life which seem like excellent ideas until the very last moment.

I perched on the end of my bed staring at the set of handcuffs I was holding and contemplated how to proceed. Alexander had broken the last set I owned and he hadn't even been trying. At the time it was hilarious and I was too relived that he hadn't launched into an interrogation about whoever I had used them with to do anything but laugh.

When he left, though...

Can you blame me for being curious? If you discover your Shadowhunter boyfriend can break Mundane handcuffs then the first thing you want to do is find a set which he _can't_ break. Well, that's what I did anyway. All it took was some daemonic runes – the sort found in magic – and I was pretty certain Alexander would not be getting out of them. The fluffy blue covering was a bit of an afterthought; some marks of the angel had disagreed with me in the past and I wasn't too sure if there would be similar conflicts with daemon marks and angel blood. The last thing I wanted was for the metal to burn him or something.

It wasn't until the last minute, when Alec was due to arrive at the loft any moment, that I realised my efforts to be accommodating might not be appreciated. Apparently I'd become mentally deficient because there was nothing at all to suggest that Alec, 'first-time-relationship' Alec, 'oblivious-to-the-world-beyond-Shadowhunting' Alec, had the remotest of interests in bondage.

What had I been _thinking_? Just because I could probably restrain him didn't mean I had to. You _can _strip naked on a busy New York street and blame it on Faerie fruit but that doesn't make it a good idea. I heard the front door unlock and threw the handcuffs underneath the bed.

When I walked out into the hall I found Alec hanging a bow and quiver beside his coat in the hall. Not the most subtle choice of weaponry for mid-day. I raised an eyebrow at the coat hooks and the boy seemed to read my mind. "It's for patrol tomorrow. So I don't have to rush off to the Institute before dark."

"Good thinking." I grinned. Lately he'd been spending more and more time at my place instead of his. If I had a training room and a tonne of weapons I wondered if he'd stop going there altogether. He'd still see his siblings all the time, sometimes I thought their favourite thing to do was crash my loft. Which would be just dandy if it wasn't always to use me as a free helpline. At least Alec visited socially.

His hands went through my hair, probably taking advantage of the fact it wasn't styled and I wouldn't need to tell him off. He smiled and held me there, as if I had any intention of going away. I put my arms around him as be both leant in to…

Mew.

Alec stopped dead in place, his blue eyes flickering to what must have been Chairman Meow. I put on an annoyed face and to hide my amusement.

"He's a little traitor." I said, leaning in again. But Alec had let go; he strode out of my arms and towards the kitten without a word.

When I looked at the two of them I saw why. There was my boyfriend, unhooking a fuzzy blue ring from the neck of my familiar. He did not look happy.

"Did you replace these?" Alec said. He scoped the Chairman up in one arm and dangled the handcuffs from his index finger at an arm's length.

"Well, you did break the last set..." I tried to explain. I was caught off-guard. I mean, I had thrown them out of sight for a reason. And judging by the look I was receiving I was right to. He looked pretty disgusted and… Hurt?

"Why would you _need_ to replace them?" Is what he said. It was his expression which told me what he meant; what he was thinking.

If he thought they wouldn't work on him, he could only assume they were for use on somebody else.

If he assumed they were for somebody else, he could only further assume that I was either cheating or preparing very early on for when our relationship ended.

"No." I said.

No? That made no sense. I shook my head and tried again.

"No," I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it but the way he was looking at me made that impossible. The atmosphere was too serious to be funny. "You have the wrong idea."

He gripped one of the loops in his hand properly. His already pale knuckles whitened with the force. He looked like he was ready to throw them at me.

"Look!" I told him, panicked. I pointed to his hand for emphasis. "They aren't breaking, are they?"

There was a pause. The cat jumped down and scurried off under the couch. I vaguely noted somewhere in my mind that I didn't want him creeping around under the furniture anymore. In hindsight, maybe I should have been writing a note to self to stop throwing things under the furniture in the first place.

"So what?" Alec yelled, obviously not understanding me. He did throw the cuffs after all. He seemed annoyed that I caught them instead of being hit in the face and sped past me to his things by the door. About to leave.

Without even thinking about it I snapped one of the rings closed around his nearest wrist.

Everything stopped then. I don't think either of us really knew what was happening.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Alec span angrily to face me. He tugged his arm roughly from my grip so I grabbed his other arm and cuffed that too. Well, I'd done something stupid and was in trouble anyway; I figured that I might as well roll with it.

"Just stop, okay?" I said as firmly as possible. I grabbed the chain between his hands to keep him from moving. He pulled back but didn't get free. "Calm down and look."

He did. He looked at me and he looked at himself. I didn't let myself breathe until he stopped pulling.

Slowly but surely I saw redness creeping onto the Shadowhunter's cheeks. I managed a smile. He did look adorably embarrassed.

"So… I showed you restraints didn't work and you thought 'Challenge Accepted?" Alec mumbled at his feet.

Smirking, I pushed him back and looped the chain around one of the coat hooks nearby.

"Exactly."


	3. Revenge

**Third and final chapter, I couldn't leave it where it was. Hope that this is alright!**

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**Revenge**

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The room was cold from the exposed stone of the walls and floor. Most of the Institute looked like a fairly normal building - the kind of thing you'd expect in a modern Church or maybe a Library - but some of it wasn't. The weapon's room of New York Institute reminded me of the crypt of the one in London; almost medieval in appearance. I supposed that if you're going to be storing things which could do a lot of damage to their surroundings, you needn't bother to decorate said surroundings.

"My Mother would kill me if she knew you were in here." Alexander grumbled as he scanned the contents of an open chest. I was inspecting the walls of blades.

Nothing there was a new sight to either of us; Alec's whole life was using weapons and it seemed as if my whole life was evading them. You want to know how to make life difficult for yourself? Be a Warlock with an open sexuality who is not white over the last few hundred years. To use a cliché - which I happened to hear before it became cliché - it is no picnic.

I gasped in mock-surprise and grabbed Alec by the shoulders hoping to make him jump. It didn't work. Shadowhunters.

"Maryse doesn't approve of you bringing men back to her home?" I said in my most innocent voice.

"It isn't that..." Said Alec, frowning at the contents of the chest. Frowning at his own thoughts. I knew what he was going to say before he said it. He faced me with a repentant expression before he even spoke. "There are some places Downworlders aren't supposed to go."

I decided not to point out that actually, there are a lot of places Downworlders aren't supposed to go. Or that funnily enough those rules became pretty flexible whenever the Nephilim needed something from one of us.

"I've never paid much attention to those guidelines." I told him instead, managing to mess up his hair before I sauntered over to a table in the centre of the room.

He rolled his eyes and went back to selecting a blade. It seemed the Nephilim could be quite meticulous about finding the right weapons.

I looked around the room at everything adorning the walls. Everybody knew the Shadowhunters kept a huge amount of weaponry. They knew that Seraph blades were kept in the Institute and in any given religious building. They had to be, because if they weren't then the Nephilim would have a tough time doing their job.

So, I wondered, what was the danger in my seeing their extensive collection of swords first hand? I sat up on the table as I pondered.

"Does your Mother think I'm blueprinting your home for the next Downworlder revolt?" I asked in my boredom. It was the most likely explanation, stupid though it was.

Alec grunted and picked up a thin dagger from the still-open chest. He held it loosely, testing its balance, before he shook his head and replaced it. "Probably."

He was joking, of course, but I knew all too well that he was only half joking. His Parents would probably always suspect foul play from me. What a pity for them. I know that if I had children I'd want to trust the guy who helped save their lives all the time. If Mr and Mrs Lightwood were going to be difficult then it didn't matter. In the end I only needed their Son's - and maybe Isabelle's - approval, which I had.

"That's ridiculous." I said, trying to lighten the dark mood descending on both of us. Alec wasn't too happy about his Parent's attitude towards us either, it was better to keep his mind off it when I could. I grinned and started to joke. "We don't even need the weapons room for our plan."

Alexander turned again and gave me a doubtful look. "Your plan?"

"I told the 'Untrustworthy Downworlder Union' about what goes on in your kitchen. We plan to weaponise Isabelle's lethal cookies." I put a finger to my lips to indicate silence, "Of course, this is confidential information, Lightwood."

At this Alec laughed and shook his head. Then he closed his eyes and reopened them like he'd been struck by inspiration. He made his way over to the table I sat on with a glint in his blue depths. His irises sparkled with a predatory playfulness as I was trapped between him and the battered wood of the table.

"You do realise that, as a Nephilim, I cannot take a confession like that lightly." He said into my ear. I might have thought he was being serious if it weren't for the fact that the last time I got in trouble with Shadowhunters I didn't end up having anybody sliding their hands up to my hips. Alexander was.

"And how can I convince you not to turn me in to the Clave?" I replied. I felt his lips curl into a smirk against my neck.

After that everything started to blur. Weapons were clattering to the floor before I saw them get pushed down. I was on my back before I even noticed my shirt was open. Alec hovered over me holding both my hands securely in one of his. An excellent demonstration of a strength rune's lesser documented uses.

When we kissed the room seemed to melt away from comprehension. Most of my thoughts were slipping out of reach. He was the only thing worth focusing on: behind the Shadowhunter there was Alec. Insatiable like every other teenager moving too fast with a love which was too new; desire which just had to be acted on springing out of the blue. I felt it all, too, with him. The excitement; the need. It was a sensation hard to find after so much time alive.

When he sat back on his heels and the haze of it all began to subside I realised something: both of Alec's hands were at my sides, but neither of mine had shifted from above my head. A quick look proved my suspicions; a set of simple metal handcuffs secured to the table via seraph blade held me in place. When I looked back at Alec he raised his eyebrows as if daring me to challenge it.

"You didn't think you'd gotten away with that using that runed set on me, did you?"


End file.
